2015 10Best Cars: Tesla Model S 60

A revelatory machine with possibilities that are still unfolding.

It starts with the battery. Tesla’s is the best in the business, with 50 percent higher energy density by weight than the next closest EV competitor’s (Nissan Leaf). Though really, the Model S doesn’t have competitors, at least not directly. Because the battery offers so much capacity, the Model S needn’t compromise its mission with a bulky gas-powered range extender. You’ve heard the rationale behind Tesla’s purity movement: Having a single propulsion element, the motor, allows for more battery cells, which extends electric range, obviating the need for a Plan B, the internal-combustion engine.

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But the Tesla battery isn’t just a box of lithium-ion cells packed in the trunk or behind the seats. It contributes to the car’s structure in a way that serves as an asset to handling. The battery pack is close to the ground, essentially serving as the car’s floorpan. Whether you’re hustling down an on-ramp or meandering home from your tech incubator, the Model S feels through-bolted to the earth’s mantle, its center of gravity close to the pavement. And because the weight is so low, Tesla can run softer springs while still preserving good roll control, so the ride is relaxed. On the highway, you have to pay attention, because your inner-ear gyroscope will tell you you’re doing a mild 60 mph when in fact you’re going 93. Your frame of reference is probably not calibrated to the degree of serene imperturbability provided by the suspension.

The Model S architecture also allows Tesla to place the electric motor—in 60 trim, it makes 302 horsepower—just aft of the rear axle. This gives the car a rear-biased weight distribution, more like a mid-engined sports car than a typical luxury sedan with its engine up front. Plentiful traction at the drive wheels means the Model S can take advantage of its electric powertrain’s instant torque, beaming away from a stop like a big-block Chevelle on mute. You don’t waste time shifting because, of course, there’s only one gear.

The 60-kWh battery pack in the Model S weighs 1125 pounds, which is 26 percent of the car's total weight. The mass is spread between the axles and beneath the floor, giving the Model S a center of gravity only 18 inches from the road, better even than the Porsche Boxster's.

GREG PAJO, MICHAEL SIMARI, THE MANUFACTURER

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So yes, the battery architecture enables a level of performance, of over-the-road mastery, that is thus far unmatched by any other electric, and the S even betters many conventionally fueled cars. It also opens up new possibilities for creative packaging and design. Consider the airiness of the interior, unsullied by a driveshaft or transmission tunnel, and where a vast, showstopping touch screen somehow doesn’t overwhelm the dash. It turns out that touch screens are really easy to use when they’re huge and right in front of you.

The compact drivetrain opens up room for both front and rear trunks, with optional rear-facing third-row seats turning the Model S into the only seven-passenger sedan on the market. The modular powertrain also allows Tesla to make easy hardware upgrades. Want four-wheel drive? Simply add a second electric motor at the front axle, as Tesla is doing for a new four-wheel-drive model. Because the Model S is part car and part electronic device, updates can be downloaded as soon as they’re available—no trip to the dealer. And that’s key, because there are no dealers in the conventional sense.

It’s rightly amazing that Tesla, only a few years removed from startup, can mass-manufacture a car this good, while also fighting state-by-state franchise battles, building out its network of Supercharger stations, planning its “gigafactory” battery-manufacturing operation, and mollifying the financial community. And, sure, the CEO occasionally has to divert some attention to one of his other companies that makes spaceships.

Maybe that’s why it has taken Tesla some time to get us a 60-kWh Model S, two years after we tested the top-of-the-line Model S P85, the one with the gargantuan battery pack and uprated motor and a base price that exceeds our 10Best threshold. The 60 truncates some power and range to qualify, while sacrificing nothing else. It is a rev­ela­tory machine, with possibilities that are still unfolding.